Sad Day

It's leap day, and it's sad, because I have to go back to work on Monday! I'll be working three days a week and my mom will be watching Lucy. I am going to let her hang out and nurse as much as she wants all day long since the milk truck will not be around as much as she's used to! It has been so awesome to be home with her for four months. Thank you Edelman for letting me take this time with my little peanut.

Mini Daddy

She looks so much like Jud here it's crazy!!

More Wi. Fun

Wisconsin Recap

We had so much fun!

4 Months Old!

We made it back to DC yesterday and had her 4 month appt this morning. She's still a peanut but growing well at the rate of about 1lb/month. She's in 10th percentile for weight at 11 lb 7 oz and 25th for height at 23 3/4 in. I know she's really a 2 footer though! She took a 1.5 hour nap after the shots!

Eh-Oh! Teletubbies

On our visit here to Milwaukee, we've discovered Lucy loves watching Teletubbies. I don't know who these people are who can survive without plopping their kids in front of the idiot box for a while, but I salute them. We are still working on sleep....it's an evolutionary process!

Sunday Brunch

Today Lucy had her first Sunday brunch at the country club. She did great...slept the whole time. We met my friend Rich and two of his three kids, two boys, Cooper and Bryson, who are 4 and 5. He also has a daughter who is 1 and a half and twin boys due in July! I am exhausted just thinking about it! We also visited the mall and got her a sun hat for our April trip to the beaches in Hilton Head. Sleeping is going much better. I'll just leave it at that so I don't jinx anything, but baby girl is down for the count. Live from the Red Carpet bored her to sleep :)

Getting Cultured

Lucy, Riley, Pap, Gran and I visited the Calatrava museum and the Betty Brynn Children's Museum today in Milwaukee. Lucy slept through the entire trip! The Calatrava is incredible; see photo here.

Wisconsin Winter

We have arrived in Milwaukee! The flight was uneventful and she slept/nursed almost the entire way. It was a balmy 18 degrees when we landed. We met another mom and baby on the flight; the little boy Michael was born on the same day as Lucy! It was nice to swap stories. Tomorrow not sure what's in store. Lucy went down without a fight at 7 pm and I'm right behind her.

Post-Ferber Face

After saying I wasn't going to post about sleep, here I am again doing it. But after 4 weeks of insane wake-ups during the night, I consulted my cousins who've collectively raised 6 kids and they said "You must do the Ferber method!" So we did. It's basically the "progressive waiting" approach as they try to fall asleep on their own in their crib. Lucy cried for 2 hours the first stretch, and we went in every 10 minutes to reassure her. It was hell but she slept much better and only ate at 11 and at 4, and we had to wake her up at 7:30 for the day. She did not cry after being fed and put back down at 4! I think we are making progress.

Back in the Saddle/Swaddle

I'm going to refrain from any more postings about sleep for now because I'm sure it's getting boring! Until further notice, you can safely assume a) we are not getting any sleep and b) the few hours we are getting are either while swaddled in her thing or on the tummy. She's just so darn cute every time I have to rescue her/feed her/cry with her each time she's up and it's still dark out it's hard to get mad. Off to start preparing for our first plane trip to Wisconsin! We leave Friday morning.

Swaddle Escape

Sorry for the delay in postings...we were out of town and yesterday I took advantage of Aunt Betsy's offer to babysit so I could run some errands! I don't know if she will ever come back to watch Lucy as she was screaming her head off when I got home. Things are going better in the sleep department. I bought one of those movement sensor monitors so can tell if she ever stops breathing since we're pretty much putting her on the tummy for sleeping, which means no swaddle. She just hates being in there and on her back in any way in the crib. It's so cute how she sleeps on her tummy. Bum in the air, arms to the side. Ol crazy arms did sustain a few scratches to the face in her first night with no straight jacket. I'll take the 6-8:30 am snooze she gave us today!!

Lake Blogging

We're remote blogging from Baba and Grandad's rental house at Smith Mountain Lake. Lucy did great on the car ride and slept most of the 4.5 hour ride. She's down for the night now as of 9 pm. Who knows what we're in for tonight as she's having her first night ever in the Pack n Play basinette!

Happy Valentine's Day

Lucy is like an owl. She can move her head to follow me where I am anywhere in the room. Pretty funny. We are napping again at 10 am! Yeah! There is about 5 minutes when I put her down of putting her plug back in and the most pathetic whimpering you've ever heard. Then, lights out!

One year ago today...

I saw the 2 lines on the pee stick! I could never have imagined what an amazing experience pregnancy and becoming a mom has been. After 2 miscarriages we were blessed with little Lucy/Lucifer, depending on what type of day she's having :) In other news, does 3 days in a row of anything with a baby mean you have established a schedule?? She's had a nap on her tummy in her crib from 10-11 the past three days! YEAH!! Here is a post-nap pic. Red mark on head where she was laying on her little fist.

Rainy Wednesday

Well, last night was an improvement! I was able to get her to take a few ozs. of formula after nursing last night so she went from 8-11:45, then up at 3:15 and then 5:45. I'll take it......oh, at 1:30 she squaked but the paci put her back down :)

No Rest for the Weary

I know everyone is on the edge of their seat to find out how last night went.....it was terrible! Tried to put her on tummy twice for bed, no go. Finally she went to sleep at 9:30 on her back in the swaddle and woke at 12:30, 2, 4 and 6:15. I am a total zombie. When will this end?? Help!

Tummy Sleeper

In a moment of desperation at 5 am, more escapes from the Swaddle, etc. I set Lucy on her tummy to sleep in her crib. Voila! She went down in 2 minutes. Of course I did not sleep at all as I stared at her to make sure she was still breathing. Now I am remote blogging from the nursery watching her nap on her tummy in there. She has been sleeping for 24 minutes which is 23 minutes longer than any previous nap in her crib. There must be a secret society of moms who have discovered that their babies prefer to sleep like this....I figure since she can lift and hold her head and turn over she's fine. We will continue with the experiment. Not sure how much more sleep I'll get as I'm still a nervous wreck!

Weekend Update

To say it's been a bit of a rough weekend sleep-wise for the Allen family would be an understatement....I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I hope, when she will go for more than 2 or 3 hours. Note to my co-workers--please kick me under the table when I'm falling asleep during meetings and conference calls! She's also been pretty crabbby just about all the time when I'm more than a few feet from her. She has learned to sit in her Bumbo seat pretty well, however. Daddy just took her for a ride to Giant to get groceries so I might do something radical with my free time like shave my legs. Note to moms to be....enjoy every long shower now!

Party In My Crib

Lucy does not like to sleep more than 3 hours at a time anymore.....last night was brutal. She's been raging since 3:45 am. It's only 7:45 am but it feels like 3 pm :) I tried an experiment to take the swaddle off and all she did was whack herself in the face and kick like Beckham for 20 minutes. Jud's new name for her is migas, for ants (in the pants) in Spanish. I've already made an appointment for her with the babysitter at the gym at 1 pm. Yeah!

Outtakes

She did great! I mean this kid loves the camera. Total ham.

Photo Shoot

This morning my friend Kris who is a great photographer is coming over to do a shoot with me and Lucy. We will post some pics later! Hotel Allen is open for business again. Mom and Doug are staying over tonight before they fly to Denver tomorrow for a ski trip. Tomorrow the Allens are here on their way back from St. John! I'd love to take a trip to the sun!!

Rolling Over!

For today's outing we had to take the car to be checked, get inspected, etc. Lucy and I strolled around King Street, stopped at the coffee shop, got eyebrows waxed (not yet for Lucy) and still had an hour to wait in the Lexus place. In the kids' playroom, I set her down for tummy time and low and behold she rolled over from tummy to back! She was pretty proud of herself. It's amazing how strong she is getting. She loves being propped up on her elbows. Judi thinks she will be crawling early because she likes to be in that position so much! Oh boy.....better start babyproofing.

Update: Church Poo

Of course as soon as it was time to go up for ashes, Lucy did her business so we were changing her in the ladies' room so missed our chance for ashes. We did get communion and had to bolt after that because she would not sit still. I will always remember this as the year where I did go to mass but did not get ashes!

Ashes, Ashes

We are off to mass for Ash Wednesday. Will she sleep? Will she cry? Who knows??

Hit Me With Your Best Pout

Lucy had fun with her friends at Moms club but is giving me the stinkeye while I check email and update the blog. She was happy playing with dad yesterday morning!

Monday Morning!

Maybe she's so smiley because she woke up three times last night! Oh boy. When will we sleep again??

Super Bowl!

Here are some pics from our super bowl party which had 4 couples and 4 babies under 6 months! Hilarious. Lucy shared her toys like a good girl ;)

Spaaaah

I went to the Spa at the Hotel Hershey this morning for a massage and facial. Lucy and Grammy played and sang. It is rainy and so nasty out! Back to Arlington tomorrow.